Get ready! When you vote this year, you’ll be faced with trying to decipher 17 statewide ballot propositions. As you may remember from past elections, I’m wildly unenthusiastic about ballot propositions.

I am opposed to propositions on the ballot because they are:

Poorly constructed and written

Hard to change or amend

Eliminate the role of legislative hearings

Proposed by special interests who can’t get the legislature to consider them

The ads on both sides of the arguments are confusing and misleading at best.

In addition to the statewide propositions, there are local county and/or city props to add to the turn off. I’m told that San Diego has 17 more of their own on the ballot; fortunately, in L.A., we have only seven more.

So keep in mind when you scan my recommendations on these propositions, my tendency is always to vote NO!

Understanding the proposition nomenclatures

(init-const-amend) = Initiative constitutional amendment adds a section to the state constitution.

(init statue) = Initiative statue is a law, not a constitutional amendment.

Initiative is an amendment to the State Constitution and can only be changed by another amendment.

Referendum is a referral from the legislature. If passed, it is a statute, not a constitutional amendment.

California Statewide Propositions

Here is a brief description and my recommendation on each of the ballot propositions:

#51 – School Bonds (initiative) – $9 billion – Opposed by Governor Brown – for K-12, charter and community college construction and modernization. Local districts can pass their own bond measures. Vote: NO

#52 – Medi-Cal Hospital Fee Program (init-const-amend) – extends and makes permanent existing law that imposes fees on hospitals to fund health care for uninsured and children. Would be hard to change. Vote: NO

#61 – State Prescription Drug Purchases (init statute) – requires drugs purchased by the State to be priced at or below same drug purchased by Federal Veterans Affairs Department. More bureaucracy! Vote: NO

Like this:

Related

One response to “MY TAKE ON THE BALLOT PROPOSITIONS”

I agree with all your choices except two which I’ll share with you below:

Prop 53 – I vote YES. I do so because I see too many shenanigans going on in Sacramento and feel voters should have some recourse, in addition to one’s vote in the next election, to restrain spending especially on these rare, large projects like the bullet train. Too much influence in Sacramento coming from our large cities (LA, SFO, San Diego) needs some balance and I think the voters, through this initiative, will accomplish that.

Prop 67 – I vote YES. In my career I ran a major project for a company that collects residential garbage in San Jose. I learned a bit about problems associated with these plastic bags including the fact that they blow away in the wind and virtually never degrade. Drive down any highway and you’ll see them creating an environmental challenge for those assigned to get rid of them. In addition, I live in a county that passed this legislation several years ago and I’ve seen, with minor adjustment, citizens helping make this work. A win for citizens, for the environment (and I’m not at all an “environmentalist”) and for the taxpayer where it will no longer be necessary to spend time and money getting rid of these bags.

Thank you, Art, for sharing your selections. As I said, I think you got most of them right.